Every Rose Has Its Thorn

The way I’ve heard the story told, Poison has possibly the most politically incorrect origin of any mainstream video game character I’ve heard of in my day. From what I understand it went something like this;

“So we made this girl bad guy character for Final Fight.”
“No way! Unacceptable! We can’t have our macho hero dudes hitting women!”
“Well… What if she was a transexual? It’s okay to punch trannies, right?”
“Yeah, that sounds okay”

And then we got Poison. Obvious logical flaws (and straight-up offense) aside I still don’t understand the line of reasoning they were working with, because she did have a pallet-swap double named Roxy who as far as I know was a flat-out cis-woman anyway? Unless they were both originally written as transwomen and then Roxy got retconned later on. I don’t pretend to understand the way Capcom works.

On a completely unrelated matter, if anyone is going to San Diego Comic Con this week, they’re going to do a premier screening of the cartoon I work on Saturday at 6:30 in room 24ABC. It’s also going to have a panel with some of the voice actors including Tony Hale, Adam Brody, Jake Busey, and Alan Tudyk, the director Brad Ableson, and the creator/producer David Gordon Green. So If you’re curious about what I do when I’m not drawing beefy men on the internet, check out the Good Vibes panel!

From the way I heard it, it was the U.S. branch that was opposed to the idea of guys beating up women, so the Japanese branch retconned her from being a woman to being a pre-op male-to-female transexual. At which point the U.S. branch came back and said, “Forget it, this isn’t working” and replaced her & Roxy with a completely unrelated male character.

Also, this strip was hilarious and inspiring. If more people were a little more like the Commander and a bit less like Jared are in this strip, this world would be a much better place to live in.

by “Full Time Lady” they mean she still a male transvestite just don’t expect kids,
Or “Full time Lady” by Ono standards is poison getting hit with a permanent Midnight bliss(or some crazy Street fighter/Final fight explanation) and has the full woman package but every one just jokes about the time she was packing pant sausage?

Just so you know, being a transwoman myself, you’ve totally earned my respect with that. It really doesn’t matter. And I’ll be darned if the Commander hasn’t just earned massive badassery points for being reasonable.

I’m a trans-man and I found this strip to be awesome. I really do wish that Poison would have been made correctly… and in a more positive light. Sure, she could have been a bad guy but I dunno. They should have made her what she is from the start… not as an excuse.. -_- Even if she’s trans, that still makes her a lady. People are so stupid.

I had a friend who called Mars who, halfway through the school year, asked to be called Mark. The teachers still treated him like a girl, calling him Marielle or something, except the art teacher. He stopped he ending out with me after a while, though I don’t really know why.

Besides that, I’ve had two bisexual friends and three gay friends, one of whom was female. My uncle owned the Lover’s Package, XXXspressToys, and Condom Revolution stores, so I’ve been exposed to sexual stuff since I was about ten (my first mag was an Adult Video News mag, at age 12), and my aunt and uncle have gone clubbing with Ron Jeremy, amongst others. I’ve grown up knowing about sex and its contents, context, whatever. So while I don’t want to see another guy’s junk, I’ve come to respect those who are attracted to people in different ways than me. Hell, one of my group of friends’ most used jobs is “eww, straight!” Because we’re so used to acting even somewhat hoyay that it became funny whenever Simone brought up their girlfriend.

Could you imagine hundreds of thousands of people going back in time to punch themselves in the face for stealing their coffee in the future? It’d tear apart the fabric that holds our society together! Men punching themselves! Women punching themselves! Dogs would marry penguins! People would walk around in their hands and hamburgers would eat people! People would constantly be saying “Stop hitting yourself!” and it’d be just as asinine as it was in third grade. CHAOS!

Or not. Maybe he has some kind of a pardon from the Time President or something.

Originally Poison and Roxy would be females, but thanks to some scrupulous moralist USA’s agent in Japan, who consider that was to dangerous that the kids play videogames were ladies are being punched, put a ‘more safe plot’ changing the character to a transvestite male (so, officially It’s a Trap in both USA/Japan). Thanks to him a moral tragedy was avoided…
At least now we have one of the hottest traps ever.

Using the term “trap” as a catchall for trans* people implies that the person is “pretending” to be the other gender for sinister purposes, such as tricking someone into sex or sexual situations. It’s a pejorative, moron.

If I may – it’s possible to use the term as a recognition of it’s (truly unfortunate) place in media, without affirming it or actually condoning the implication that trans folk are pretenders. In other words, admitting that people often *put it* that way.

I really hate that Poison has a penis out of political correctness. While most say she’s post-op in the US and pre-op in Japan, there are some games in which she seems to be female. I don’t think they even thought or remembered about the tranny part until the internet reminded them.

I think people just like to say she has a penis because they think it’s funny in the same way they insist Domokun is a grue.

Me? I refuse to acknowledge her P.C: penis, if they made her a tranny for some other reason, I’d be OK

I’m pretty sure her trans status arose out of being ridiculously un-PC. The idea of it being more ‘okay’ to hit transgendered people has some seriously unfortunate implications given the history of violence against them, and for that matter the idea that it’s okay to hit guys but not women in a fighting game isn’t that PC either. Equal rights, equal ability to get punched in the face by a man on steroids while attempting to break his neck, right?

I just like that she’s a fairly positive transsexual (not tranny- that generally refers to transvestites. Different things) character at all.

Poison starts out on the streets, fights some dudes, makes some friends, saves up, gets the operation, becomes the manager of a successful fighter, bam, happy story!

Do you know *how rare* it is to have that in fiction? :) Well, you probably neither know nor care nor would I expect you to have reason to, but stuff either tends to be insulting or kills ’em off for ‘drama’ and to show ‘how hard their story is’.

I would say it doesn’t matter even if you *are* trying to get in there. History or not, a woman’s a woman, and Poison is hot. ;)

You have to respect Jared for aiming high. She’s waaaay out of his league, but it never hurts to dream, right? Or in this case, humiliate yourself in the name of seeing off a potential rival. Which is kind of what it looks like he is doing, which makes it even funnier.

I don’t think the fact that Poison is a tranny is the insulting part. Lord knows Japan has done weirder. It’s the fact that in America on some platforms they swapped Poison out with a punk guy. As if somehow any feminine looking character can’t tussle with the guys and stand a chance. It was stupid.

Not that I didn’t always like the Commander but I think my respect for him (and Coelasquid) just went through the roof here. He makes an excellent point about it really not being any of Jared’s business…though I do take some mild amusement in him acting horrified by Poison’s trans status while still holding out hopes he can tap that. He should make up his mind which juvenile teenager stereotype he wants to go with.

It’s more he thought “Hey I’d tap that” found out she was at some point in her life a he, and freaked out. As a good many teenage boys are wont to do when they find out someone they were attracted to may have had or still be in possession of a masculine undercarriage.

If the person is rendered as having hips wider than waist, she’s female, no matter what anyone else says. That’s the one facet of transgender appearances and surgery that has yet to be addressed. The only exception would be hermaphrodites, but they get the best of both worlds.

Some guys have this hip/waist ratio you are talking about. My room-mate for instance. He’s a dude, no trans-gender/sexual or intersexed stuff going on… just a dude. And yet he has been mistaken for female from behind due to having this shape which, listening to you folk and your “scientific” statements, only lady’s have. Maybe it is more common in ladies, maybe hormone treatments can change body shapes… but some dudes are also shaped that way from the get go.

agreed.
I’ve known a number of guys of various overall weight/muscliness who had hips wider than their waist, and or rounded bums.

it all depends on the angle of the sacral bones/the bits your leg muscles attach to if your hips are gonna be noticeably wider than your abs; at least this is what numerous life-drawing classes and a few anatomy and physiology classes have taught me.

The long-term wearing of corsets can also help change body shapes. Although ‘waist training’ is easier and less dangerous for females, it is still very possible for males. It takes serious dedication and some pain, but so does surgery and all that.

I don’t know what you’re getting at exactly, but in the real world, trans people don’t always need surgery to address hip/waist ratio. A lot of the time it takes care of itself when a person starts hormone treatments, as body fat redistributes around the body. Hence, the ladies end up with big hips and smaller waists, and us guys lose our asses and end up with more around the middle.

A hermaphrodite is a creature that can reproduce with itself- a creature that produces both male and female gametes. So no, as far as we know, human hermaphrodites do not exist, for while some recorded cases of people having both male and female sexual organs externally exist, none of these have ever had the ability to produce both male and female gametes.

There’s nothing wrong with punching trainnies! What. you want to treat them different if they become gangbangers taking over a city and your a hard vigilante with a girlfriend/daughter who needs saving? They can’t do that too?

You bigot! You go punch that tranny like you would punch any other evil gangbanger! And watch out, there’s like, two more of her you can’t see over a few pixels cause you reached the person limit.

Except Bridget isn’t transsexual. He’s just a boy who, due to being raised as a girl, is very girly. But still 100% a boy.

Japan comes up with characters like that all the time. I still think Lucius from the GBA Fire Emblem game is a pretty hot chick, even though the game is very clear about the fact he’s not a chick at all.

Wow, Commander is not only an awesome badass, but he’s also more reasonable than most of the humanity! I am in shock. But I also understand Jared’s concern, I mean, even if Poison has a dick, she’s still insanely hot.

I don’t pretend to understand the way Capcom works.
Well, I tried to understand Street Fighter’s name switches once. I mean, a black boxer named M. Bison is some kind of using celebrity, but why did they have to take both Vega and Balrog and switch those three names at random?
As far as I love Capcom’s games, they really are messed up sometimes.

They decided that Balrog was kind of an ugly name for a narcissistic pretty-boy and that Vega didn’t sound menacing enough for a beeftank dark overlord at the same time they were looking for a new name for “Mike Bison”, so they just traded places on us.

I mean, really: It only matters if you’re planning on initiating an intimate relationship with whatever’s in her pants. (Even then, if she’s post-op, it only matters if you’re determined to have biological children. Surgeons do some goddamn beautiful work these days.)

Yeah, when you guys mention it that wasn’t a good choice of words. It’s taken a while to articulate what it really was that bothered me about the strip: That the Commander’s lecture teaches the wrong thing. Jared’s problem isn’t that Poison is out of his league, but that he’s too sexist to reconcile his attraction to her with the knowledge she has a penis, and I think the Commander knows it.

What’s going through Jared’s head doesn’t have anything to do with what he says, so addressing those arguments is a waste of time. If I was in the Commander’s shoes I might say something along the lines of “You’re scared of a girl with a dick, I understand that, and I feel for you, but you’ve got to acknowledge that fear, deal with it, grow up and stop insulting my carpool buddy. What’s happening is you’ve been brought up to believe women aren’t as real people as men, but objects for you to use for sex, and Poison is threatening to you because since she has a dick plus the potential capacity to find you attractive, she could objectify you and it’s no fun to have your paradigm turned against you like that. In fact the idea that you could be a sexual object and not an actual person should be fucking terrifying. So maybe you should sit down and consider that you do it to other people before you worry about them doing it to you.”

I understand that might not make for a very funny comic and all. It’s just my reaction to what may be the first hint the Commander isn’t a perfect saint; the first time I’ve thought “I could have handled that better than him”. Not that I handled that very well, hence my “preachy” comment, now officially withdrawn.

I think if I used the seven panels it probably would have required to fit that much text, it would have read as exponentially preachier.

What’s going through Jared’s head is “Hey that girl is hot, I should go bother her -> Oh wait she maybe has a dick -> I HAVE TO WARN EVERYBODY”
What’s going through Commander’s head is “Stop being rude to my carpool buddy”

I think I knew that – about Carmaggedon, that is (thanks to Jeffbot). I don’t know why I thought it was still going on

I mean, studies proved the best average group is four people. That’s why you see four people carpooling in cartoons, comics and other media. I know New York and New Jersey went with three because it was giving people a break (and a chance to use the sometimes empty carpool lane). Two people also makes sense, but I think our Eastern states are more about trying to convince as many people as possible to ride in one car or on the subway to reduce the insane amount of traffic (and the four to six hour wait during rush hour) on the turnpike at once. The tolls on the East Coast are getting rather high, and more roads are being turned into toll roads.

I didn’t know it was only two in California and Toronto, but I can see that. California and Toronto are a little more laid back sometimes. With the 416 and other major highways relieving traffic, things are less bad than the Jersey Turnpike.

You ain’t the only one there. I have several transsexual friends and everyone feels “tranny” is damn offensive. It refers to transvestites or people who get some sexual kicks out of cross-dressing, whereas transsexual people have a real issue with their body, they’re not doing it for the kicks.

More than that, the word ‘tranny’ when applied to *anyone* is a degrading term used by the media to sexualise and degender people. Weather we’re talking about cross dressers, transvestites, intersexed people or trans people, it is an offensive term.

It’s not always offensive… I think most of these people don’t quite understand how it should be handled, but if you ask me, it’s much like the word “faggot.” Some people are very touchy about it, and others have appropriated it. Speaking as a transsexual, I usually don’t have a problem with the word “tranny,” unless it’s being used in an obviously derogatory manner.

Like the word ‘faggot’ I find that my trans friends often find the word inoffensive when used within the trans community. However, I personally do not share this view. I would prefer not to be called that in any case. ‘Transwoman’ and ‘transman’ are not that difficult to say and much more accurate. But that’s my rather biased opinion.

What about Bridget? So it’s ok to punch cross dressers? Or is she/he a tranny too? Are there special rules? I mean you can punch Bridget because she/he is actually a dude in a dress. But what if it was a girl dressed up like a guy? Could you punch he/she then? What if the fighter is a girl but not human. Like an animal or an alien? We need these kinds of things written down.

Actual combat doesn’t have ridiculous rules. It doesn’t matter if one combatant is a burly man and the other combatant is an eight year old girl in a sundress. Whoever hits the other hard enough first is going to win.

Granted, the eight year old might need a revolver or something instead of a fist to make the shot count, but the point stands. Combat is about hurting others and keeping them from hurting you. Nothing else applies.

Props to you squid for making this comic. It just makes me respect both the commander and you alot more then I already did. I really wish more people thought that way because then maybe this world wouldn’t be so damned disgusting.

Man, sometimes I wish I could be as tolerant as the commander, because being tolerant of everything out there that’s different is the cool thing to do these days. As if “different” is automatically “equal”, or at least “equally valid”.

But nah, I still think trannies are weird. I mean, while however someone dresses themselves is their own business and I certainly won’t judge a person on their sexual preferences alone, for a man to claim to be a woman “on the inside” or vice versa, means that they’ve got their wires crossed something nasty. It seems damned irresponsible to give those people surgery rather than therapy.

Mind, I wasn’t trying to claim that transexuality is wrong or anything, just sharing my view on the subject. Admittedly, it was a view partially born of a lack of knowledge and an inherent distaste for they way that, in my opinion, modern medicine is far to quick to go for the surgery/medication option, in many ways aiming to fix the whats without looking at the whys.

I didn’t intend to offend anyone, and I certainly didn’t mean to kickstart the string of arguments and insults below.

yup, dude disagrees, opinion invalid. can’t have that going around can we?
There’s word for that, it’s called bigot. Funny how that works huh? You can be a bigot against bigots.
Needs some serious logic corrects though, therapy is no cure. But try being corrective instead of degrading, it’s what actually puts you in the right, instead of just being hate on hate.

and resorting to insults without any valid contradiction is petty squabbling.
first part of my statement was just trying to break though an otherwise thick head, my point was be constructive to the problem, not mocking. a concept you seem to have trouble with as well.

Hating someone for making a stupid comment isn’t bigotry, it’s how society determines acceptable practices by policing itself and the people a part of it. He put his opinions out into the public forum. He opened himself up to scrutiny. He made a giant target of himself and people took aim. Rushing to his aide to attack anyone who doesn’t agree with or choose to belittle him is childish, and makes a very clear statement about who you think is the one person worth standing up for.
Personally I would choose to stand up for anybody BUT a transphobic asshole, but hey your life your choices. Which, incidentally, you really ought to look at. Perhaps with the assistance of a sassy man with a debonair scarf and a chip on his shoulder. Just some suggestions.

Furthermore he is wrong for jumping into a discussion he knows fuck all about and telling trans people who live in this transphobic society what he thinks they should do to cope with something he will NEVER know anything about. The way I see it, making him feel as little and worthless as possible is the best response one can give. Maybe give him pause to either research the topic himself (Google is amazing) or at least be smart enough not to walk into a discussion about trans people and declare what he thinks is best for them.

So you can just pack up your little toys and go play with the other little children because your temper tantrum really isn’t doing you any favors.

*shrug* it’s called devils advocate. situations reversed, i’d argue reverse, because i try to get both sides to think more instead of “everyone just agree with the majority”.

claiming you can judge my position when i haven’t said it, based on the fact i didn’t immediately join in the ignorance bashing is “us or them” territory, a philosophy that has destroyed just about every group dumb enough to hold it that hard. You would stand up for ‘anyone’ but the transphobe? you have a very messed up view if you think that’s as bad as it gets.

your plenty right, jumping in when you don’t bother to learn about the topic at hand is begging to be told your wrong, but doing absolutely nothing but resulting to name calling and insults accomplishes even less. not everyone did that, true enough, but i’m not calling out everyone.

If you look like Kratos but feel like… Actually let me try this the other way. If you look like Jared but feel like Kratos on the inside, should we give you “therapy” to make you like video games and be completely irresponsible with… Well, everything. Or should we get you on a weightlifting program?

Note when answering: The “therapy” does not include getting a Mr Fish. Nor does the weightlifting program. There is no option that includes Mr Fish.

Assuming the weightlifting program, should we treat you like Jared or Kratos in the meantime? Well, okay, that’s not a fair question, we treat Kratos like crap. Should we treat you like Jared, or should we treat you like we would treat Kratos if he ever stopped being such an example?

“But nah, I still think trannies are weird. I mean, while however someone dresses themselves is their own business and I certainly won’t judge a person on their sexual preferences alone, for a man to claim to be a woman “on the inside” or vice versa, means that they’ve got their wires crossed something nasty. It seems damned irresponsible to give those people surgery rather than therapy.”

It has already been shown that transsexual people indeed DO have certain physical differences in their brains and so it’s not just something you can “fix” with therapy. Besides, if you knew anything at all about these things you’d KNOW that in almost all cases where they’re denied surgery and are instead shown to therapy they commit suicide. Therapy simply is NOT enough.

To be honest, it would be terribly irresponsible to let people like you decide these things.

Congratulations on making yourself look like an idiot, dude. I would assume you are trolling, but I have a horrible feeling you’re not.

In light of that, and since other people have already covered the more important stuff, here’s a question for you: does it matter what we do with our lives and our bodies? All most people want is what cisgendered people already have: equal rights to live, work and marry without being regularly beaten, descriminated against and subjected to abuse.

It’s not actually that much to ask for, but people with your attitude constantly want to stick their noses in. That’s why ‘she was a tranny’ is still a legal defence for murder, incidentally- because some people think we are ‘weird.’

if you demand respect from others, give it first. No matter how wrong his opinion he is entitled to it, and claiming support is open-minded while insulting someone who chose to disagree is pretty much hypocrisy.

I can stand by the commander’s line all the way, but it is a two-way street of sorts: telling people they are wrong just because they won’t change their ways on your account, well, both sides of the conflicts have their share of that.

Your argument is very flawed: I’ve spent a lifetime being polite and respectful to cisgendered folk, and none of them have shown me *any* respect in return. ;) I am still treated as a second class citizen, and I still have to be very careful who I disclose my history to, in case it loses me my job, gets me verbal abuse, or even physically attacked (and yes, that has actually happened to me).
So, sorry if you think I’m out of line, but really, I could have been a lot worse, and I actually stand by what I said 100%.

as i said, everyone’s entitled to their opinion, i can’t hold anything against you if you’ve got your reasons. My point merely being that in any instance of two sides, there will always be people on both sides unfairly abused, so not everyone who disagrees with you should be drawn and quartered.

And i guess i should clarify: being respectful doesn’t automatically mean you will be respected, i only meant that you can’t be demanding it if you aren’t giving it. If you have been respecting to people who abused that kindness, you are a far better person than most.

No, I don’t think that people of color have to respect racists, or women have to respect misogynists, or gay people have to respect homophobes. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but no one is entitled to RESPECT for their shittyass opinions that I’ve “got [my] wires crossed something nasty”. I won’t draw and quarter them either — and Misguidance was hardly doing that — but respect? No. Why on earth do people who are being treated unfairly have to be BETTER than the person doing the mistreating?

This isn’t a matter of opinion like what kind of ice cream do you like, was that movie crap, what sports team is best. It’s an opinion that transexual people are messed up and wrong in the head and apparently shouldn’t be allowed to make their outsides match their insides if they wish. No, sorry, not going to respect that.

This isn’t an issue of ‘two sides’, though. It’s an issue of bigotry vs people just trying to be themselves as normal, healthy people who happen to have been born in the wrong kind of body. It isn’t an equal road of abuse when one side risks a few nasty comments while the other side risks death.

since your determined to suggest the scales aren’t balanced: there are more than enough documented cases of death on both sides, so suggesting only one side is responsible for that is hardly accurate. or if you prefer another note, look into the US’s former ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy, which resulted in a number of sexual assault cases due to people just like that. there are innocents and guilty on both sides, so don’t act like right and wrong can be decided by something as simple as “us or them”

exprophet: no one said you had to respect them. But i’m curious why you’d think they should accept you’re morality when you invalidate them because of theirs. You’re right this isn’t about an opinion about something small, it’s about something far more important, and since when has anyone ever been able to agree about what is right when it comes to that?

I’m gonna have to agree with Misguidence on this one. If, for example, someone tells me that women are frigid whore-bots out to snag a man to impregnate her/steal his money, I’m under no obligation to go out of my way to avoid hurting their feelings. Telling some one “hey, that thing you said was a dick move on your part” is NOT equal to saying something horribly transphobic

On the same hand, engaging them with the intent of hurting their feelings isn’t going to change their opinion. You’d be better off just not saying anything and reinforcing their opinion (which I don’t agree with).

The best move when this dude said something was to totally ignore it and move on to more constructive conversation. I knew the moment people started hammering on him that it would devolve into name-calling and trying to one-up each other.

Best move? Not to engage these people. Or go out of your way to engage them. Just let them die lonely or whatever.

The intent is not to hurt their feelings. The intent is to challenge bigoted, damaging ideology. Ignoring it isn’t going to make it go away. Maybe you’re right and it won’t change their mind either, but you can’t honestly say that calling people out on bullshit like “I don’t think I should have to respect teh trannies, their brains are icky” is CONTRIBUTING to the problem.

I didn’t say they should accept my morality. They should just get the fuck out of my face. This is a separate issue from who’s right or wrong — which, as you say, no one can agree on — it is the idea that people should be able to make their own lifestyle decisions (as long as they’re not hurting others) and other people should butt out because it’s not their business. Brandao, more or less.

Accepting that other people think differently from you and allowing them to go about their lives as they see fit is not the same as agreeing with them, and disagreeing with them doesn’t mean you take measures to prevent them from doing so. In this case, “that guy” has not been prevented from braying their opinion just because I disagree with them, and they are free to continue doing so on whatever internet or real life venue they desire. But implying that transexual people shouldn’t be allowed to have surgery, that’s more than just disagreeing. I do not respect that.

This “no one can agree what’s right or wrong so everyone’s opinion is equal” bullshit only works on a very shallow level. Sometimes opinions are, actually, wrong, or poorly informed, or irrational, or oppressive or damaging. Things are rarely that easy to sort out, of course, but they exist, sometimes in degrees, and “you people are fucked up because I don’t understand what you’re going through” is almost always worthless.

Sometimes the best way to combat bigots or morons on the Internet is to ignore them and not respond to their posts. The moment you do engage them, it becomes a struggle and only creates a giant flame war that creates a ton of negativity.

Trust me – after years of moderating forums and discussion boards, people with strong opinions (regardless of the morality of their opinions or whatever) want you to respond so they can start fights and then go and use your rather bitter responses as proof that they’re right with their buddies and perpetuate the opinion elsewhere. Don’t give them that – just let them die alone and unnoticed. Then you’ll feel better that you didn’t give them any ammo or responses to use.

I’m not combating anyone, it’s the fucking internet. I’m saying what I want to say because it needed to be said, and because someone reading this who didn’t say a thing might need to read it. Furthermore, this person wasn’t clearly a troll, and even if they were, the discussion that happened was still about as valuable as any discussion that happens on the internet — in other words, not a whole lot, but it was better than a youtube exchange.

So how about you back the fuck off, too. I think I know what makes me feel better, and it happens to be saying something every now and then — speaking up instead of throwing up my hands and going OH WELL I’LL JUST LET THEM DIE ALONE LOL.

Thank you Seiberwing. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. The guy who said the statement about the wires being crossed and how he finds them weird. He stated is opinion. He was in no way trying to be insulting, he wasn’t aiming at any specific person. In my opinion it’s no different than thinking people who get tattoo’s are strange. They are simply trying to make their body look how they want and feel it should. But again, since everyone is entitled to their opinion, those of you who blatantly attacked him, do have some wires crossed. Just different ones. Someone can be a bigot no matter what they are or believe or change into. I used to love reading these comments because i always felt there were some really intelligent conversations that would happen here. So i could get a giggle, and then learn some. All I’ve learned from all this crap is that someone who should be the most understanding of someone else’s feelings and thoughts, can be just as single-minded.

Again, this argument is done, please drop it, I think I’m going to start deleting comments on the matter from here on out, because everything that needs to be said has been said. The thing people were taking issue with was him saying they should not be allowed to alter their bodies. That was the point of contention. Using your tattoo example, it’s like saying “I don’t like tattoos, they should be illegal so no one can get them.”

Nonetheless, if you decided that all cisgendered people are horrible, the bigot is you. Then maybe everybody is the bigot. Perhaps that not you specifically, but it is kinda a thing people often forget. All conservatives or people of here or all straight folks or whatever can experience prejudice. In the same numbers? Probably not. But cycles perpetuate easily when folks start hating folks back who weren’t part of any hate in the first place.

The simple solution i try to adhere to in life is waiting to dislike somebody when they specifically have done something to show me they are a jerk. If they are in fact jerks, this generally doesn’t take too long so it’s worked pretty well so far.

I wasn’t under the impression that they were speaking out against all cisfolk, just ones who say that transpeople need therapy to get over it and the ones who commit violent or otherwise harmful, hateful acts toward transpeople for no reason other than “they are transgendered”.

Yeah, and people with diabetes should just get therapy to get over their need for outside insulin, am i right? I mean, letting them inject insulin is just irresponsible.

Also, people who are looking into transitioning are required to have lots and lots of therapy first. Not only does this help weed out people with legit mental illnesses like surgery addiction (now there’s some weird shit), but helps those transitioning deal with people like you.

Congratulations. In your attempts to point out someone else’s ‘wrong doing’ You’ve insulted a whole different group of people. If it’s an addiction, it’s something they most likely cannot mentally control.
So congratulations again on alienating a completely separate group of people while “protecting” another…

There it is. I find it amusing that people will militantly insist that acceppting every form of sexual deviancy is somehow the meaning of “equality”, but the moment someone states that their opinion or moral beliefs on such a subject are that, regardless of whether or not they are in any way hostile or even care about the issue, that such things might be objectionable, they are suddenly attacked like a piece of bleeding meat in pirahna-infested waters.

I am a Christian and I don’t believe homosexual behavior or attempting to alter one’s natural gender (socially or physically) is morally acceptable, but I have never disrespected those who support these things, mostly because I believe they truly are “victimless crimes”, and therefore the business of nobody but those involved. But if groups that support LGBT are going to treat anyone with differing beliefs with such blatant hostility, then perhaps it’s becoming a problem in society.

If you want your beliefs to be respected, you’ll have to respect the beliefs of others. That goes for both sides of the issue. Debate the matter all you want, but disrespecting people by calling them a bigot because they disagree with you is going too far.

“But if groups that support LGBT are going to treat anyone with differing beliefs with such blantant hostility…”

It aint just us allies; quite a few of the people being called “nasty” and “immoral” are understandably getting more than a tad annoyed at being so openly insulted. Hardly surprising.

“But I have never disrespected those who support these things…”

Those people largely include the ones who you just admitted you deem immoral. Not only is that disrespectful in and of itself, it is even more so to argue that it should be good enough that you don’t advocate chasing them through the streets with pitchforks and torches.

Women do not have to respect the beliefs of misogynists. Non-whites do not have to respect the beliefs of racists. Transfolk do not have to be polite when someone tells them that they are “wierd”, “immoral”, and “have their wires crossed something nasty.”

As I said, people on both sides of the issue need to cease the hostilities. It is not disrespectful or intolerent to hold a religious belief. Attacking someone verbally or physically because of your beliefs is. I do believe that such behaviours are morally unacceptable, that does not mean I disrespect those who believe it is. I also believe there is one God, and that does not mean I am disrespecting polytheistic religions. I believe sexual intimacy before marriage is wrong, and that does not mean I am trying to opress those who disagree with me.

If someone believes I am disrespecting them by holding those beliefs, I am sure they will be equally offended if they find that my favorite color is different from theirs, or that I have a different taste in music.

I am truly not attempting to de-rail your argument, but “attacking someone verbally or PHYSICALLY?” First off, nobody has thus far advocated physical violence and second of all, those on the “are actually trans” side of the debate are the ones who are actually attacked in this sense. Both sides are NOT equally beholden to violence.

I get you don’t think you are disrespecting people by judging the fact that they are trans. The fact is that it is indeed disrespectful to transfolk. They have to deal with that shit to the point where the “trans panic defense” is still largely accepted as legitimate.

As for the color/music parallel: Saying you like one color over another is not the same as saying prefering one color is immoral. Choosing a favorite song is just that: a choice. Nobody chooses to be trans.

I am not judging anyone based on such things. I do not make any assumptions about someone because I disagree with them on some issue. I do not honestly care if the people around me are a part of the LGBT culture that’s sprung up. I do care when they are treated uncivilly because of these things or when they treat others without civility unprovoked. I’m well-aware that they as a group are treated poorly by society and I do not agree with that treatment, but I have often seen people attempting to speak in their own defense and managing to attack others because they cannot seperate those who disagree with their choices from those who hate them for their choices.

The idea that transsexuals do not choose to alter their social identity, their dress, our their bodies to appear to be a gender that they physically are not is ridiculous. I believe your point is that they are born with a neurological condition that leads to these behaviors, and I don’t see how this is relevent. The question is not whether they come to a decision because of a psychological or physiological condition. The question is not even whether their actions are morally acceptable- I am not trying to push my beliefs on to others.

I will admit that the comparisons I made were a severe stretch, and that it is an issue of such severity there most applicable comparisons are trivial beside- though I will submit that someone who adopts a vegan lifestyle because they believe eating meat is morally questionable is not disrespecting those who eat meat by holding this belief.

This isn’t so much about how you view transfolk as how it comes across, regardless of your intentions. Actually, since the behavior you are objecting to was the reaction against That Guy, let’s take a look at that.

We have a general consensus that whether or not an individual is trans is really noone’s business save for their own and potential lovers’, a viewpoint you seem to conceed to. That Guy comes along and says that the Commander is being some kind of tolerance-hipster and that this somehow infringes on his right to think/proclaim that transfolk are weird and mentally disturbed, throwing in the term “tranny” in for good measure.

That’s pretty goddman provocative. Dude walks in and objects to people advocating tolerance, he’s not going to get much sympathy, nor deserve politeness from the people whose faces he just spat in, and he is going to get called out. This isn’t so much a vegan abstaining from meat as it is a vegan walking into a resturant that serves meat and harassing the customers.

Also just fyi, not all transfolk choose to alter their bodies/social presentation, in many cases over fear of retaliation. They still identify as trans, and would certainly argue as to their agency in the matter, which is why I brought it up in context of your color/music example.

Let’s all cut it with this argument then shall we. The original statement people were taking issue with was “It seems damned irresponsible to give those people surgery rather than therapy.” That is a rather intolerant and uninformed sort of sentiment to express, even if it’s one you believe in. That particular sentiment IS an opinion that threatens another person’s right to do what they want with their body because it involves an unrelated party deciding they know what is best for people they have never met, and probably never will. They are completely free to express those sentiments because of free speech and all, and other people are completely within their right to think less of them for it. “Free” does not mean “consequence free” everyone does not like everything you have to say, and those are the consequences to accept every time you verbalize opinions. True, starting a rebuttal with “Congratulations on making yourself look like an idiot” is going to read like an attack but it’s a case of “I disagree with you and I think you’re weird so I’m going to tell you what to do with your body” VS “I disagree with you and I question your intelligence”

So yes, I think we’ve all said everything that merits being said on this matter.

At the risk of pissing everyone off on both sides, yeah, transsexuals *do* have their wires crossed inside their heads. That’s kind of one of the better analogies for explaining it. Thing it, those wires get crossed because of a hormonal mistake during fetal development (blah blah blah biology) and we don’t have anywhere near the neurological understanding to rewire somebody’s brain. So if the brain and body are out of alignment, and we can’t fix the brain, where does that leave us? With fixing the body to match the brain. That’s the whole philosophical reasoning behind sex change surgery – the patient’s starting condition is inherently painful, and we cannot change the brain to resolve it. Maybe one day we can, and that’ll become a very, very interesting ethical issue. But for now, that technology isn’t even on the horizon. Getting those people who cannot stand to live as male to be as female as possible is the only solution we have.

Incidentally, not all transpeople choose to transition. Many are somewhere in between male and female, and it become a choice between live-as-something-you-aren’t and have-surgery-and-still-live-as-something-you-aren’t. Many of those do go the “try to live as men” route, so when you look at transsexuals you’re really only seeing the extreme end of the continuum, trans-wise.

Haggar is the least likely to need help. By proving he could be a mayor, he doesn’t need help integrating into society. Though I can imagine him and the Commander doing work together to get Haggar into congress. “I’m bad enough to rescue the president, and the ECONOMY! Vote Mike Haggar, 2012!”

I find the whole Poison/Final Fight censorship history on the international release pretty silly. Double Dragon games featured beating the tar out of women years before Final Fight, and to my knowledge, that didn’t garner any censorship issues.

how come nobody talked about the first bubble ?
best innuendo ever
works even better if you don’t know poison is a man, then you learn it at the end of the strip and then you recall the first panel and get your mind blown XD

Wow, I already loved this comic, but now I’m really impressed. The way you mixed such an important message of tolerance into a genuinely hilarious strip is nothing short of masterful. I think you just won comics forever.

Hstory is a bit fuzzy with this one. According to another version of the story, Poison and Roxy were always meant to be transvestites:

“With Capcom USA, Phillips’s team edited some of the grislier games that came in from its Japanese parent company, although Capcom’s own censors weeded out the most offensive touches…When a Capcom USA representative suggested that it was tasteless to have the game’s hero beat up a woman, a Japanese designer responded that there were no women in the game. ‘What about the blonde named Roxy?’ the American asked. The designer responded, ‘Oh, you mean the transvestite!’ Roxy was given a haircut and new clothes.”

(from David Sheff’s book, Game Over)

Not sure if that’s any more or less offensive towards women, trans people or both. Its definitely interesting, though, as I can’t imagine any American studio at the time consciously putting transvestite characters in their games.

I have to applaud your skill at writing dialogue this time around, Coelasquid. The Commander’s line in the last panel was perfectly phrased and timed to achieve a comedic blend of funny. Truly hit me right in the tickle spot. Bravo, keep up the good work.

The Commander’s statement makes me happy. I wish more people thought that way. Seriously, most people never get all hung up on cis-gendered people’s genitalia, so why should transgendered people’s genitalia matter?

Also, Poison would probably get on well with Flea from Chrono Trigger.

Ah, Flea… yes, that’s another game character I’ve personally always seen as a non-binary-gendered character – it’s canonical that Flea is a shapeshifter, so I like to think of her as effectively a hermpahrodite who is just unhinged and immaturely-humored enough that she still finds the idea of looking like a woman while claiming to be a man in order to throw off her opponents funny as hell.

I started out liking the Commander, but every time he lays down another tolerant line like he really means it instead of doing it because he’s afraid of being called a bigot just makes me like the character more. A real manly man doesn’t care what someone else’s choices are as long as everyone knows where they stand. I was the only straight bouncer at a gay club in Orlando through most of college, and most of the regulars were just as nice as you please as long as they knew I wasn’t interested romantically. Heck, I still keep tabs on alot of them just because they were cool people to hang out with. A transgender buddy actually introduced me to her sister, who is now my fiancee, showing how much fuller life can be if you just give it a chance.

Still, I’m starting to think that Jared is more and more of a necessity to make this comic work. His knee-jerk, often childish reactions which typically reflect the general male mindset (of young men and teenagers at least), is there to be lampooned by the Commander, who always takes things in such calm, pragmatic stride that I can’t help but laugh. Coela, you rock.

By the way, I love the Impala, but I always figured the Commander for a Charger man. Maybe the ’69 with a blown engine, aftermarket scooped hood, and mixed set of racing tires so the rear end is hiked up and it looks like a cat about to pounce. Or is that too macho? Is he into American muscle, or is it the tailfins that sell it?

There’s just something about the Chevy, it’s like… as far as muscle cars go it seems like the humble working man’s car. If that makes any sense. Like more about “Look at this machine I brought back from the dead” than “Look how fast this baby can go”. Also I like drawing cars with fins. Also Commander’s personality is basically an AU overhaul of a character in a different comic thing I’m trying to sort out who I wanted to use but couldn’t because the comic isn’t outlined yet, and he’s an American Muscle car aficionado with a Frankensteined Thunderbird.

No disrespect, but the Charger is made by Dodge, not Chevy. I get the two confused all the time, too.

I agree with your thoughts on the Charger’s looks, and may have let a little of my own past color my perceptions on it. For example, the ’68-70 B-body models are among very few muscle cars with enough leg and head room for me. Since the Commander follows the Brandao and, at least as far as I can tell, thinks of himself as a humble working man with no need for ostentation, a humble, subtly designed car seemed appropriate to me. The charger’s appearance is indeed nothing out of the ordinary, save that in the right light it appears to be accelerating even while standing still. Plus, with the 426 cubic inch Hemi, it roars like a demon when you put your foot down, making it one of the heavier and more overpowered gas guzzlers out there performance-wise. Good luck turning unless you’ve upgraded the steering, suspension, and brakes, of course. The need for upgrades and aftermarket changes to smooth out the kinks in the design is what I’m guessing you mean by “back from the dead”. In that respect, the Impala came off the production line a classic.

Anyhow, I’m just making conversation at this point, so please don’t think I’m trying to criticize. I just like talking cars. I look forward to the possibility of a hero with a Frankensteined Thunderbird. I do hope you mean a ‘50s model. Once they hit the 70s, they started to look like Lincoln towncars.

The first car I recall my dad owning was a Frankenstein as well. It was a powder blue ’76 Chevy Caprice, the four-door stationwagon model that weighed almost 3 tons. A whole family could sleep in the back. We were moving from Washington to Florida, and had bought it used when the stock diesel engine and transmission fell out after just a few hundred miles. Dad had to report to his new boss in less than 2 weeks, so we went to some gearhead friends who installed the only engine they had on hand. A 454 cubic inch big-block V8, which had about twice the performance capacity of the previous one. That combined with a transmission from an Impala meant dad could get this 3-ton powder blue all-steel tank up to 60 in about 3 seconds, and 120 in 6. We had highway patrolmen so impressed they let him off speeding tickets provided he took it out to race with them later. God, I miss that car.

“. . .basically an AU overhaul of a character in a different comic thing I’m trying to sort out who I wanted to use but couldn’t because the comic isn’t outlined yet, and he’s an American Muscle car aficionado. . .”

Do you mean Dagget? Moar Dagget! I lurk your DA page from work hoping to see what him and Blue are up to lately.

GUYS GUYS. You’re missing the most important question here! Does the carpet match the drapes?

Why the fuck did they even say anything about her genitalia? She’s a fucking fictional character. That’s like people wondering if the thing has a stone dick. It’s weird. Quit it. Also no one is ever getting into her pants because she’s a fictional character.

I just wanted to say that, after skimming through aaall these comments, “Does the carpet match the drapes?” gave me a violent fit of giggles. That just caught me offguard as the perfect thing to lighten the mood. Truly, bravo!

You’ve got transpeople coming out of the woodworks for this comic, and I can see why. It’s absolutely amazing. As an MTF myself, it’s really quite touching to see something like this done in such a way that it’s legitimately hilarious and still thoughtful and sweet.

the stuff you said about poison makes me think of that scene in the IT crowd where the boss gets into a fight with this woman who used to be a man, and they have a big punch up where she fights like a man and he hits her in the face. Its funny cause it just seems wrong but your like “well she is a man right?” but only in a comedic sense.

If she looks like a girl and has the muscles of a girl, i say dont hit her. Shouldnt pick on skinny dudes for that matter either.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years it’s not to think too much about Capcom’s reasons for doing *anything*, it’s not worth getting a migrane over.

Why even make another SF movie when the first one went so horribly, and then give them even more free reign over how not like SF they want to make it. Why intentionally crash and burn the Breath of Fire series when they had such a loyal fanbase (or if they don’t intend to do anything else with it, why not sell it?). Why make UDON do half a dozen different Capcom stories/series and then take forever to finish each one with weak continuity?

We may as well ponder over the meaning of life we’ll be more likely to get a meaningful answer.

Hopefully Jared will learn from the Commander- who is awesome! I thought he couldn’t get any more awesome after the muffins, but you sure showed me. I’m very happy to see this. Mind if I link this to someone else? It would be to Evelyn Poor, writer/artist of Trans Girl Diaries, who recently made her own continuation of Venus Envy.

Only one or two comment chains went that way, and nowhere near as bad as some of the blog posts where I’ve had to delete a few comments for the sake of not having really offensive, bigoted posts on my website. The majority of the commentors here seem pretty civil. Most people seem to either be pleased by Commander’s sentiments or want to talk about cars and vanity plates and buttock enhancements.

Coelasquid your comic never ceases to amaze me. Been reading for a very very long time and there have been a lot of wild rides.

Though this comic seems to be more on the after school special side rather than the usual humorous side, your attitude on this subject is really amazing and clear headed. Especially the part on how it’s somehow OK to beat up on transsexuals, made me laugh more than the actual comic. This is not something you often see on the internet.

This makes me super happy. Long time FTM reader, who probably belongs next door at the gentleman’s club, but still a big fan of the Commander.

I rather like how Jared apparently thinks just riding in a car together is clearly dangerous. Perhaps hes worried gender identity is catching?

….I was going to make a comment about the Commander coming back from boxing as an FTM, but then I realized he wouldn’t look or act any different, and also got sort of… distracted. *gazing into the middle distance.*

I get the impression that, nimrod that he is, Jared seems to think that because they’re friends, that the Commander and Poison have romantic tension… and “non-same-sex friends = future lovers” is a definite nerd mindset.

Meh. I grew up playing Mortal Kombat, so dudes punchin’ chicks and chicks punchin’ dudes was alright by me… I just always though of the “genderswapped” characters as the gender they were potrayed as, ex, Poison is a real girl, and that other one, Bridget I think is as well… Then again This is just me.

dude, someone throws a punch, they should be okay with getting punched. Male, female, no-sex, no-gender, whatever! That’s why I don’t throw punches. I find it unacceptable for someone to get punched (attacked physically), but I understand it happens and can move on from it.
Also, I too thought the first panel was in reference to … something not driving. I had to go back and re-read once I got to the third.
Also: Poison: WIN. Commander: WIN +linesteal. Jared: … WTF, trollface?

I’ve always wondered about the whole Poison issue, since Final fight is super homoerotic looking while lacking any actual “female” characters. Even the women are “men”!

I think that if people are being weird about this page, it might be because it comes off as a bit preachy. The set up for the joke takes a while, and I think if you cut down the words a bit then it would come off as a comic with a good joke and message, rather than a good message with a joke thrown in at the end. It seems a bit odd that it was just the Commander blabbing on while Poison gets maybe 1 panel to herself.

I don’t really know what to add to the actual topic debate, since my time passing as a ftm was pretty stressful and short lived, and the other trans I knew treated it like a non-issue. Well, except for the weird ones on the internet who use it as an excuse to verbally abuse other people who aren’t so enlightened about that sort of thing.

(Offensive) origins aside, I think it’s odd that the only games that I have heard of featuring transsexuals are fighting games. Of course I could not be looking hard enough.

I have no problem with fighting games involving females. I do have issues with said girls having skirts that flip up high and big boobies that bounce up and down rather unnaturally, but that’s a different issue.

I always thought Poison was kinda awesome, even playing it on the old beat up Street Fighter arcade machine my dad fixed up in our basement as a wee lil thing (wished she was a playable character then actually, being a 9 year old girl I was pretty into anything pink). Didn’t even know the trans part until this comic. Whatever, she’s still pretty wicked.

People like the Commander (and by extension, you), are the kind of people that give me something to look forward to in this world. I was brought to a conservative Baptist church with some friends for about a year, and because of that I found myself almost exclusively surrounded by some of the most intolerant, judgmental people I have ever met. They thought that transgender people were products of sin or tempted by the devil or whatever, and that gays and transgenders shouldn’t be allowed into their holy institution because it was their mission to turn all those god-loving folk into heathens. I’m not making any of this up. The pastor told me that my bisexual friend could only be allowed in if we kept watch of her, because she was a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and would try and make everyone in there gay. As you can imagine, I felt entirely uncomfortable in the place and left as soon as I got the chance.
So now I’m incredibly bitter and absolutely cannot stand when people make a big deal out of sexuality and gender. If a person is MTF, then she is a woman. Is that really so hard to understand? Why is it any of our business anyway? If people could just let go of these stupid predetermined ideas about gender, then the world would really be a much better place.

Here’s the question: is the Commander really as open-minded as he seems, or is it just that the future is full of things that make a MTF transsexual in Daisy Dukes look like a Brylcreemed Republican in a smoking jacket by comparison?

I take a lot of inspiration for my sci-fi futures from the Verhoeven future like they have in Starship Troopers and Robocop, where it’s just a totally gender neutral society and all the soldiers share the locker room with no nevermind because a person’s junk doesn’t mean anything when they’re just another soldier or co-worker. May be a distant fantasy, but hey, I can dream.

The point of the co-ed change rooms in both Robocop and Starship Troopers was to show that the society was gender neutral. They go over it at length in the commentary, with Verhoeven remarking on a quote he heard once that stuck with him “We won’t be equal until we can shower together”. The whole point is to show that in his sci-fi future men and women can be naked together without anyone getting all grabby.

What’s more, he fought to make Lewis look like an actual policewoman. The producers or whoever wanted him to cast some kind of Farrah Fawcett-type supermodel who could pull off her helmet and shake out her long blonde hair, he wanted her to look like a cop. He managed to convince them that it would be creepy to try to shoehorn in a love interest for a robot.

That’s very commendable. And yet, just as Verhoeven tricked Starship Troopers audiences into cheering for the Nazis, I wonder if it was also his intention to expose the audience as a bunch of boob-obsessed Neanderthals.

“Gee, 18-to-35-year-old male heterosexual moviegoer,” he might well be saying. “The male characters can see topless women without batting an eye. Why can’t you?” And then, of course, we’re forced to confront the fact that we were having kind of grabby thoughts about Dizzy Flores, and that we’re not even as enlightened as the fascist “heroes” of the film.

Dutch people have wheels turning within wheels, Coelasquid. I should know; I married one.

(And while I’m pleased to hear he campaigned against turning Anne Lewis into a shallow love interest, I don’t agree with his rationale that falling in love with RoboCop is creepy. Peter Weller has eyes you can lose yourself in.)

This comic is the best comic. You just tackled a very controversial issue, said something definitive about it, made it funny and didn’t get preachy (which I wouldn’t have minded anyways, but bravo for pulling it off).

as far as i’m concerned if a woman dares to throw a punch she better be able to take a punch…in my case for example, if you punch me i’ll give them the respect as a woman and say “is that a challenge” before i act…and according to law where i am if someone challenges you to a fight, it’s legal…for example, if a dude walked up to me and said “hey asshole fight me” i’ll ask if he’s serious…if he is, i’ll destroy him…if he goes to the cops…saying “he asked for it” is legit and the cops will merely laugh at the dude, women have fought against the man for equal rights for the past century but the moment a man treats the as equals in certain regards, the women immediately turn into hypocrites…and not gunna lie it pisses me off just watching

With Capcom continually changing their minds about what Poison really is and even changing the story of her creation to cash in on the controversy, I have to agree, it doesn’t matter one bit anymore what she really is. Just do what the original creator of Final Fight said almost 20 years ago and decide for yourself what she is.

Ah yes… Poison… champion of the futanari community… or something like that.
The last three panels somewhat amuse… The rest just sorta reminds me that society considers gender / sex to be serious business for some reason.

Then again they consider all sorts of stuff to be serious business… so… go figure.

The whole poison situation was ridiculous in a truly equal society someone who’s life style include engaging in violence i.e being in gang be they male or female should he not be treated differently based on their sex and in video game medium the depictions of violence against either sex should be equally violent as showing more violence against one sex normalizes violence against one sex i.e in most cases men which is wrong. Also there is no such thing as a transsexual or a transman or trans woman there is no way to change XX to XY chromosomes or the reverse there are only lesbians and homosexuals who have surgically altered their bodies to falsely resemble the opposite sex.

I really liked the message of the comic and had to go through the trouble of finding this ^^ …and…I saw the Jimmy bit…uhm… Well…
I got this. =o
I would like to address the immediately above, and potentially, future posts.

The message give8n so far is not one I’m going to automatically say it’s wrong… but I do not find it to be entirely right. I just cut out a huge rant, so anyone who wants to butt heads on this topic in detail can contact Cryoki of skype. Otherwise, this is pretty much the rough concept.

Let me point out from logical speaking standpoints.

Yes, chromosomes generally cannot be altered. However, they are not automatically listened to by any part of the body. Proof: Besides birth/development defects, weird incidents like DNA/development inconsistancies (someone with lad chromosomes who is a lass), intersex (‘hermaphrodite’ if you’re familiar with the rather offensive term), so on.Sexuality is behavior. Transsexuality/transgenderism and similiar concepts are identity. Who I have the hots for has nothing to do with what I feel my body is. One should consider it looks ‘off’ when an aspect of identification and an aspect of behaving are considered one thing.The brain and mind are not the body: The brain has to internally understand what its surrounding body is, or else it will simply not know it. Considering how the body is capable of the brain operating, the brain very obviously does. The body is a machine that does what the mind tells it to so that it lives. The brain is what we acknowledge in identifying a person, given that it runs our mind in all ways feasable.

Invalidating a person by sense of identity and what type of people they are attracted towards is pretty much literally invalidating the person’s personal individuality. Telling them to not act to address inconsistancies of their identity/behavior is repression of that individual. This is pretty much directly stating what these ideas are. Pretty much most of all questions are actually about whether it’s ethnically ok rather than asking the semantics of you literally invalidating/repressing. Religion? We don’t know if anything that any religion is real beyond our sense of faith. Science? Scientists haven’t sorted out the brain all the way. Culture and law? That only tells us how to deal with it. The only thing that has any direct interaction with a mind is the given mind in question, as it stands, so any arguments about atypical gender and sexuality as an existing concept stand on fundamentally shakey ground.
Furtherore, to argue if these concepts are not real in the first place is basically saying that drastic life changing decisions of numerous people were based on a line of thought and understanding that did not exist in the first place. Pretty suspicious concept if you ask me. Now if you want to say that, say, a bissexual is totally delusional, that’s a pretty unlikable, idea, but it’s not one that would be a bold faced lie that would be trivializing what a ton of people have, are, and will go through.

….And that’s all I’ll say unless directly asked personally, hence offering my skype ID, because I’m not arguing about who’s right or not, just what statements like Jimmy’s literally are. :\ I hope I was not offensive, Coelasquid: You have tons of respect from me.